Ducati Monster Forum

From motogp.com:

Marquez and Lorenzo went on to laugh about the fact that, by sheer chance, they were allocated seats just two apart on the flight back to Barcelona from the south of Spain.

“We were on the plane and it was a coincidence that we were in the same row,” the 20-year-old continued. “He was sitting on the window, with my mechanic in the middle and me on the aisle seat. Then, when we finished the flight and everything, I tried to shake his hand and he gave me his hand, so we shook hands and that was the most important thing.”

“I was the last one, as always,” Lorenzo added. “I always wait for others to get off the plane and leave last - with any flight. But it was funny because the plane has 200 or 300 seats and we were in the same row, so it was funny. We didn’t speak about the incident, we just spoke about unimportant things, and then finally I accepted Marc’s handshake for the first time since the incident. But, I repeat, I do not have any problem with him personally. I just want to improve the safety of my sport and that must be the first priority.”

[popcorn]

BS... if it isn't personal then you shake his hand the first time.

you got your feelings hurt cause you got beat. it was personal, but your PR guy probably said, don't let MM be the hero in this or your done as Spain's favorite son.

He got passed/bumped in the last corner of the last lap in front of his home crowd, in a corner that had just been named for him.

Me? I'd be a li'l butt hurt.

But I'd get over it. And yeah, it might take me a couple of weeks.

FP1

Pos. Rider Team Bike Time
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:34.645
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:34.685
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:34.938
4 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team Ducati 1:34.972
5 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati 1:35.072
6 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.149
7 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:35.170
8 Alvaro Bautista Go&Fun Honda Gresini Honda 1:35.285
9 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda Honda 1:35.478
10 Hector Barbera Avintia Blusens FTR 1:35.949
11 Aleix Espargaro Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:36.083
12 Andrea Iannone Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 1:36.211
13 Michele Pirro Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 1:36.607
14 Randy De Puniet Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:36.745
15 Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:36.790
16 Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia Blusens FTR 1:36.872
17 Claudio Corti NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 1:37.325
18 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 1:37.431
19 Yonny Hernandez Paul Bird Motorsport ART 1:37.597
20 Danilo Petrucci Came Iodaracing Project Ioda-Suter 1:37.620


FP2

Pos. Rider Team Bike Time
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:34.035
2 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:34.169
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:34.173
4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing Yamaha 1:34.201
5 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda Honda 1:34.299
6 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:34.512
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati 1:34.578
8 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team Ducati 1:34.590
9 Alvaro Bautista Go&Fun Honda Gresini Honda 1:34.739
10 Aleix Espargaro Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:35.045
11 Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1:35.362
12 Andrea Iannone Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Ducati 1:35.433
13 Randy De Puniet Power Electronics Aspar ART 1:35.447
14 Michele Pirro Ignite Pramac Racing Ducati 1:35.864
15 Hector Barbera Avintia Blusens FTR 1:35.940
16 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 1:36.449
17 Claudio Corti NGM Mobile Forward Racing FTR Kawasaki 1:36.643
18 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing ART 1:36.759
19 Danilo Petrucci Came Iodaracing Project Ioda-Suter 1:36.764
20 Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia Blusens FTR 1:36.821


these 2 sessions dry...forecasts change to rain for the coming days ahead.

I think it's amusing that we expect these guys who have trained most of their adult life to do something that's basically batshit crazy, at the pointy end of what's possible for humans to accomplish, to be healthy and happy human beings.

Mind you, I do think the very best among them are the ones who are the happiest of the lot off the track, but that most of them aren't little Napolean Complex douches is actually kind of puzzling.

Is it just me, or are the bikes getting collectively more competitive? i.e. Less than one second between the top 10 and less than .2 secs for the top 4.

Some of that is because it's a shorter track than Austin or Qatar.  


You rang?

This is a good thing.  We need more WSBK type finishes in MotoGP.  Or we can watch reruns of the 500cc races in the other thread.   [Dolph]

FP3  - Go Nicky go....

Can't post the times yet but:

Becoming the only rider to beat Pedrosa’s quickest time of Friday, Marquez registered 1’33.600 which was half a second quicker than Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, with Pedrosa a further 83 thousandths adrift with the second Repsol Honda Team Bike. Nicky Hayden was fourth quickest for Ducati Team from Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who ran with a new aluminium duct in a bid to cool his brakes after suffering from overheating on Friday.

Lorenzo and Dani need to pray that Marquez' wild on the verge of crashing style actually results in a few crashes at some point. 

Quali was wild!

Crutchlow misses the front row by .007 sec.
Tough as nails comes up a bit short.

Jorge misses pole by .030 sec.
His logos are hammer and butter, I think MM's should be the whip and Cholula.

Ducks are IN THE HOUSE at a wet LeMans - past the half way point, Andrea hanging on to a podium and Nicky just forced a Rossi mistake!!!  Fookin' brilliant day for the Marlboro Men. 

well....it's apparent that Ducati needs to make waverunners.

Or they need to install sprinkler systems at all the tracks. Still, great race.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-1361962/Bernie-Ecclestone-suggests-fake-rain-liven-Formula-One.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-1361962/Bernie-Ecclestone-suggests-fake-rain-liven-Formula-One.html)

That was a very good race. The 1st half battle between Pedrobot & Dovi was awesome!  [bow_down] Gotta hand it to Pedro...he used to be a guaranteed crash in the wet...too bad Dovi couldn't hang on to a podium.

Great race by Cal...with a cracked bone in his leg!  :o

Nice ride by Hayden as well.  [thumbsup]

Superb ride by Marquez. You could see him learning the 1st half, then putting it together in the 2nd.  [thumbsup]

It would appear that Rossi is done.

yup....suckage for him too IMHO....Yamaha will sop up all the PR gravy in the meantime.

Its looking that way, although Jorge was much worse than Rossi yesterday and other than losing the front on that corner, I'd say Rossi was doing pretty good considering it also looks like the Yamaha is the second best bike on the grid now.

Or dare I say Pedro and Marquez are just better than Lorenzo   :P

NEWS FLASH

Ducati does well in the rain..........

except he qualified on the front row in the dry...

granted they have a long way to go, but it seems they're making progress.

He's qualified well before. Problem is the tires seem to be dead by lap 4.  :P I guess it's a glimmer of hope though!

maybe he is just verging on the trench of uncontrollable and pushing that boundary like Casey did all the time and getting comfortable there?!?!?!

What was up with that one corner in the Moto2 race?!?  I've never seen anything like that -- two teammates going down at the same place at the same time.  

Redding rode really well.  I can't believe his point lead, considering it's only Rd 4.   Is Pol Esparago dragging more elbow this year than last year?  He looks like he's riding differently.  

Nope.  There's Casey, and then there are humans.  Dovi is human. 

 :'(

Everyone on a spec Honda with Pirellis/Dunlops/whatever.  So long as it's not Bridgestones.  Then we'll see . . .

I don't know...Cal got a podium on a satellite Yammy, and has out rode him all season except for Qatar. Dovi and Hayden both beat him on the Duc, and Dovi has made a habit of out qualifying him all season.  :o. I just don't think he has the motiviation to fight/risk it like he used to...which is understandable given his age, past success, bad leg injury, & involvement with Simo's accident.  :-\

Do you think the Simo thing weighs on both Rossi's and Edwards' minds and they just don't talk about it.  Possible maybe?

I dunno.  I still believe that if you put 'em all on superbikes with normal tires, Rossi would put on a clinic.  But on GP bikes . . . I don't know if Rossi still has it.  I hope he does, but the Duc, age and SuperSic could break anyone. 

I'll second that.


I said the exact same thing while watching the race.  I wish him luck. 

does it weigh on Edwards....I don't think so...in his mind in regards to THAT situation, he didn't run over his best friend and help potentially contribute to his death....could that thought be in Rossi's head though?...I think it is a VERY likely....

I think Rossi still has massive motivation. However there's little bits of pieces. There's no doubt he rides 100% hard still but others have surpassed him given the 2 dud years he had. He still seems to be having trouble getting the perfect setup that he likes. More weight in the front and flickable bike as opposed to Lorenzo's bike having more weight centered. Additionally you have to consider if Rossi trusts the electronics completely to just throttle it and let the computers do the work

I'd like to bring up the possibility that last year's Yamaha was actually better than this years bike and Cal just doesn't realize it.  The factory boys aren't as strong as Honda this year and while Cal might be a couple chassis tweaks behind, he might actually be riding the best Yamaha.  Neither of the two are quite as good as the current Honda, but I'm not so sure newer is better.

JLo and Rossi tested the 2012 and 2013 chassis at Jerez ~ 2weeks ago.
Apparently not much in it.

http://motomatters.com/results/2013/05/06/2013_jerez_motogp_post_race_test_final_t.html (http://motomatters.com/results/2013/05/06/2013_jerez_motogp_post_race_test_final_t.html)

From the article, it appears that Cal is on the 2012 chassis.

Perhaps JLo was on the 2013 for LeMans, and their last minute setup change was a '2012 setup' and didn't agree with the 2013 unit.

Could be bike set up. I doubt it though. He's ridden around problems before. I definitely don't think it's electronics...they were around when he won his last championship.

46 - it's all too soon to tell...he did break Marquez to get a podium in Race 1; rode a known Yamaha-unfriendly track at Austin; lost the front while in a decent position last week.

Might get interesting later in the season and next year when Yamaha starts sending him parts, etc. that he wants/needs instead of JLo's stuff.

^ what he said. ;)

Whew...I was worried that I would have to watch the WHOLE season before I could call it a season. Thankfully, it appears that I only have to watch the first 4 races and now I already know how the season will wind up. /sarcasm  :-*

You're just a little butt hurt that your boy is not as super human as you thought he was.

Just watched some after the race footage.  I was really bothered by Lorenzo wagging his finger at Marques. 

Lorenzo looked like a tool. 

Marquez showed incredible restraint, I don't think I could have not attacked Lorenzo for doing that to me

Yeah...he's a mere mortal. 9 world titles? What a worthless piece of shit...

Maybe you should become more of a fair weather fan. I will be the first one to admit that I want to see Rossi on the podium much more than Jorghey, but I actually live in reality.

And you are somehow making some shit up about what I actually said.

4 races are done. 12 races are left. I don't think there has been a world title decided in less than a quarter of a season ever. But people are acting like it has been wrapped up.

I'll give you a crisp hundred dollar bill if you can find anywhere that I said Rossi was going to take a title this year...hell, I'll give you one if you can find where I said he even has another title in him before he retires. Because I've never said that. Why? Because I think I have my head more firmly in reality than a lot of people who post in this section.

Let's see what happens when Stunty McCrashesnotsomuchlately snaps a collar bone or Cal finally gets over his fear of not getting a contract over a "lesser" rider and wins some races.
12 races left is an awful lot of what ifs for me to make a call on who is going to win the title. But it's silly to say things like 'Dani has it wrapped up." Or "Yamaha isn't going to come back."

People have stupid short memories.
I like Rossi. I don't try to hide it. He has won more titles and more races than anyone EVER has except for Agostini. What exactly is so wrong with openly admiring that?

 [thumbsup]

+1 .... Wait till it rains 9 out of the next 12 races..... ;D

My mistake...not a 16 race season...it's an 18 race season so 14 races to go.

Still, fat lady ain't singing yet.  [cheeky]

So will you be butt hurt before or after the fat lady sings?

How exactly am I butt hurt? Because I cheer on a rider that I actually like? Because he has charisma that many other riders lack? Because no matter if he is winning or not, he is still fun to watch?

I still root for Colin Edwards too but have no delusions of him doing anything else relevant in MotoGP. But the guy is genuinely likeable regardless of his race performance. Same goes for Rossi.

Hell...even Marquez is likeable on some levels.

I just think it is assinine for people to have already made up their minds on who will win the title based on 4 races out of 18. Like I said, when was the last time *ever* that a championship was decided 4 races into an 18 racea season?

All I said, albeit sarcastically, was that the season has barely begun.